Groups support gay coalition seeking to march in Tet Parade

Feb. 6, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Several gay and lesbian groups marched together in the Tet Parade for the first time in 2010. A coalition representing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people has not been accepted, days before the parade, this year. FILE PHOTO: MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Several gay and lesbian groups marched together in the Tet Parade for the first time in 2010. A coalition representing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people has not been accepted, days before the parade, this year. FILE PHOTO: MINDY SCHAUER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Leaders of a coalition representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people which has not been accepted to participate in this Sunday's Tet Parade has garnered new supporters, including the ACLU and the Garden Grove Unified School District.

On Tuesday night, district trustees agreed to pull out of the Tet Parade unless organizers decide by noon Friday to let in the Partnership of Viet Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Organizations.

The district had planned on sending a school bus with its school board members and some students to participate in the parade, set for 9 a.m. Sunday in Little Saigon.

"It's about hate. And we haven't said it ... but that's what it comes down to," said trustee Bao Nguyen, who pulled the item from the agenda and encouraged his colleagues to not send a yellow school bus to the parade.

The board did not vote on the issue but withdrew the item from its agenda, in effect not approving a district bus and bus driver to participate.

The exclusion of the LGBT group has been the topic of numerous Vietnamese media programs, as the group gains support from local and national organizations.

Westminster officials have encouraged the Vietnamese American organizers to allow the participation of the gay partnership. Joining them in recent days have been several organizations, including: Lambda Legal, which works in support of LGBT rights; the ACLU, which works in support of civil rights issues; and the Public Law Center, a pro bono law firm in Orange County that serves low-income residents. The groups all emailed letters Tuesday to the parade organizing committee.

And on Wednesday, the Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County, which represents 1,500 members, planned to send a letter to parade organizers in support of the LGBT group.

"Diversity is very important to our chamber," said Tam Nguyen, the chamber's president. "We're still participating in the parade, and we request they include everyone."

Meanwhile, an attorney for the LGBT group said Wednesday morning that he still plans to seek an injunction in Orange County Superior Court to force parade organizers to include the LGBT participants. But he plans to wait until Thursday because the group has not officially gotten word from the organizing committee.

Officially, the organizing committee has not taken a vote to accept or deny the application, in order to avoid having any one group pull out from the parade. The parade is days away.

The decision to not accept the gay partnership's application has caused a rift among organizers. The majority oppose allowing the group in. But the Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California said it supports the gay partnership, which will have a booth this weekend at a huge Tet Festival in Garden Grove that is sponsored by that student association.

This year, a coalition of Vietnamese American organizations is putting on the parade because the city of Westminster is strapped financially and is not paying for such events.

The gay partnership joined the parade in 2010, when the city was in charge. But the group met with resistance then too. The Vietnamese Interfaith Council in America called for a boycott of the parade. This year, the Interfaith Council is one of the key organizing groups of the parade.

The leaders of the gay partnership said their goal is to celebrate their Vietnamese culture along with everyone else. Those who oppose them said the group does not represent Vietnamese culture and the Tet parade is about tradition.

On Tuesday, students, representatives from the gay community and others spoke on behalf of the gay partnership in encouraging Garden Grove school trustees to pull out from the parade.

"Use this as a teaching moment for the students," said Jeff LeTourneau, co-chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County, LGBT caucus.

"You have an opportunity," said Anaheim resident D.R. Heywood, to show students "that intolerance will not be accepted or endorsed."

Trustee Linda Reed said she had served on the organizing committee for years while the city ran the event and is hopeful "the committee will do the right thing."

"We have been placed in an untenable position. This board is supposed to be apolitical," Reed said. "I hate to see our bus withdrawn but I also don't like the idea that we in some way oppose what we teach our children every day."

Trustee George West said he did not support the use of a school bus in the parade: "As a social science teacher and someone who believes wholeheartedly in public education and the rights of all people, I didn't think it's the right thing to do."

Only Trustee Lan Nguyen expressed disagreement.

"Our school board here should not be the forum to address this issue," Nguyen said. Nguyen also offered to pay the $400 out of his pocket for the bus and driver for the district to participate.

LGBT group members and their supporters said they were encouraged by the Garden Grove board's move.

"We thought it was historic," said Hieu Nguyen, a Garden Grove resident and member of the LGBT group.

Laura Kanter, youth program director at The Center OC, which serves the LGBT community, said after the meeting that the school board's position to withdraw its bus from the parade is important.

"It's little things like this that may seem insignificant," Kanter said, "but this is how change happens."

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